The Supreme Administrative Court is gradually granting more rights to environmental organisations (EOs) in nature conservation procedures. Following a December 2020 ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court regarding the party status of EOs (for further details please see "New ruling expands environmental organisations' rights in nature conservation procedures"), the Supreme Administrative Court remains on course with its pro-EO case law. In recent months, the court has issued several more interesting rulings that seem to strengthen EOs' position in nature conservation proceedings.

Even though it’s been a year since its parliamentary elections, the outcome still seems to be the talk of the town and the biggest influence on business in Montenegro, according to Schoenherr Partner Slaven Moravcevic. 

Heuking Kuhn Luer Wojtek has advised the Grotkamp family on the acquisition of all shares in Funke Mediengruppe. Schoenherr advised on antitrust aspects of the deal. Milbank advised the Funke Mediengruppe.

Schoenherr has advised SiteLog Infra GmbH on the acquisition of the Equipment & Technology Services business unit from Implenia Osterreich GmbH, via an asset deal. Karasek Wietrzyk advised Implenia on the matter.

The amendment to the Business Corporations Act effective from 1 January of this year (the "Amendment") brings, among other things, a significant change in the liability of members of a statutory body, which will affect the current topic of insolvency.

Herbst Kinsky has advised Russmedia Equity Partners on the acquisition of 100% of shares in finderly GmbH, which operates the online flea market Shpock, from Norway's Adevinta. Schoenherr advised the seller.

The government announced a substantial change in bearer shares at the end of 2020, but the details were only finalised in April 2021. According to the new amendment, non-public joint stock companies are now obliged to register shareholders holding bearer shares.

Schoenherr has advised Credendo on the cross-border merger of their Austrian stock company into a Belgian group company, advised by Linklaters.

Baker McKenzie has advised MOL Group on the acquisition of a 92.25% stake in OMV Slovenija d.o.o. for EUR 301 million. Rojs, Peljhan, Prelesnik & Partners advised MOL on Slovenian law.

While the pandemic negatively affected a plethora of legal practices, this does not seem to be the case with employment and privacy, according to Schoenherr Counsel Daniel Gera who says that it has been the principal driver of work recently.

Crowdfunding is a type of intermediation where the service provider operates a platform (e.g. website) open to the public. The purpose of that platform is to match enterprises seeking financing with prospective investors. The enterprises typically receive small amounts of money from many investors (usually natural persons), via lending (lending-based crowdfunding) or investment into shares (investment-based crowdfunding). Some of the best-known crowdfunding platforms are Kickstarter or Indiegogo. By introducing a single European regulatory framework, the uncertain Hungarian legal environment might change, potentially giving a boost to the crowdfunding market.

A law implementing, among others, Directive (EU) 2019/878 amending Directive (EU) 2013/36 (Capital Requirements Directive - CRD V) has been passed by the Austrian Parliament and Federal Council, and has been published in the Federal Gazette. CRD V (as part of the package together with Regulation (EU) 2019/876 amending Regulation (EU) 575/2013 – CRR II) aims to close regulatory gaps in the existing financial regulatory framework and, while adding prudential measures as to capital requirements, requires certain entities to comply with new licensing obligations.

Hungary was one of the last EU countries to introduce a register of ultimate beneficial owners. While the provisions of the Fourth and Fifth AML Directives were already implemented in the Hungarian AML Act, the technical conditions on the actual operation of the UBO register were only adopted by Act XLIII of 2021 ("UBO Register Act") and are in force as of 22 May 2021.

The following article addresses a random first choice of civil law, contractual aspects to be precise, which the authors think are worth considering before you buy (or sell) your first NFT. However, given the novelty of the underlying technology, there is room for dissenting opinions.

Capital commitment is one of the indispensable conditions for becoming a shareholder in a Turkish joint-stock company ("JSC"). Under Turkish law, the main responsibility of a shareholder, whether in the stage of incorporation or capital increase, is to pay the undertaken capital.

The Vienna office of Schoenherr has advised joint lead managers Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg, and Raiffeisenbank International AG, on the placement of EUR 500 million 0.5% mortgage covered notes due 2041 issued by Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark AG. Wolf Theiss reportedly advised the issuer.

DLA Piper has advised digital retail finance and payments company Zip Co Ltd on the conditional acquisition of the remaining 78% of the Spotii and 90% of the Twisto buy-now, pay-later payment platforms. Schoenherr advised Twisto on the deal.

Hungary is one of the first countries in CEE to fully implement Directive 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market ("CDSM Directive") and Directive 2019/789 ("SatCab 2.0 Directive"). The so-called "Copyright Reform Act" (Act XXXVII of 2021) was published in the Official Gazette on 6 May 2021, and the majority of the new rules will be effective as of 1 June 2021.